A quiet neighbourhood's greenery uprooted by the grind of progress was the wake-up call for Sabina Narayan and Sheetal Parakh. Meenakshi Doctor meets the women with spades in their hands!

"AS a child, I remember how beautiful this road used to look, with it's tree-shaded avenue, sprawling bungalows, and pavements that we enjoyed walking on!" remembers Sabina Narayan, a resident of Harrington Road, a posh residential area in Chennai. Today, with seven schools, over 500 children walking on badly dug-up pavements, less than 50 trees remaining, hawkers and a growing amount of apartment buildings overshadowing the rambling bungalows, Harrington Road is a caricature of its old self.

For Sabina, the initiative to take charge of maintaining the neighbourhood began when she moved into a new house on Harrington Road. She says, "When I moved here, I decided to get to know the neighbours and work together on things that concerned all of us like garbage and road maintenance."

The Last Straw
The final blow that triggered Sabina's environment campaign came on a hot afternoon when she was caught in a traffic jam that was a common and chaotic feature of Harrington Road. Afternoon was when schools ended for the day and hundreds of children streamed onto the roads to climb into cars, buses, autos, vans, rickshaws, cycles or to just walk home.

"Every time I was stuck in a traffic jam caused by schools getting over, I'd get out and try and divert the traffic to ensure some sort of movement was there. In November 2002, I eventually wrote a letter to the traffic police, but even as I did so, I realised it was pointless. They would send the cops for one or two days and then we'd be back to square one again!"

Coming Together
She then wrote another letter addressed to the residents, calling them for a meeting to discuss these common problems. "I made xeroxes of the letter and went around with our watchman to drop it off at everybody's' house," says Sabina. A friend Sheetal Parakh joined Sabina, and together they arranged a meeting of local residents. Of the 300 people called, 75 showed up!

"Garbage was everywhere. I began by motivating the local auto-drivers to watch out for irregular dumping. Now, they are like a garbage security group for us."

The Green Plan
On Harrington Road, the immediate concerns are with garbage disposal and restoration of pavements on both sides of the road. "We are committed to making the entire area a zero garbage zone and are trying to promote segregation of garbage into biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste aggressively. We would ideally like to encourage residents to start something called a 'lazy man's compost system'."

Essentially made from wire mesh, the lazy man's compost has, except for plastic and coconut shells, every bit of kitchen waste from eggshells, to vegetable peels, fish and chicken bones. Dig a little depression in the ground and place the mesh bin in it.

Leave it open to dew and sunlight, and allow the garbage to decompose (during rains, use a plastic sheet to cover so it does not get too wet!). You will get fresh manure for your plants within three months.

Eco Economics
"Eventually, we plan to make infrastructure improvements on the roads and pavements, plant trees along the avenues, regularise traffic and parking at school areas, relocate hawkers, get solar street lights, have provisions for public toilets, harvest rainwater, and develop a good park.

While these plans will require larger vision and funding, Sabina says, "I am not worried about funding, because I know that if we have something good to show for our work and sincerity to this cause, we will get sponsorship. To begin with, we have been spending from our own pockets. But we are eventually looking at spending six to seven lakhs on this road," she says.

They have already employed a coordinator who addresses the various problems (sewage, roads, hawkers) to the right people in the Municipal Corporation office.

Buried In Bureaucracy
Dealing with bureaucracy is frustrating and it's what keeps most people away from their civic responsibilities. Sabina admits that her experience has been no different. "It's mostly because they (the Corporation) are slow to put anything in place and the quality of work is poor.

But redoing the pavements is not something we can do ourselves. We have got an encouraging promise from the Commissioner for something called the 'Trivandrum Model' to be implemented on this road, so that all drains, ducts, wires and cables are held within one chamber, but to date nobody in the Corporation is too clear of what exactly this model is and what it will involve," she says.

What You Can Do
Cleaning up the neighbourhood will become increasingly necessary for their sheer survival.
• To get similar projects started in your neighbourhood the best way to begin is to get neighbours together and discuss the problems in the locality.

Sabina says, "People are willing to come forward and support the drive as long as they don't have to spend a lot of money. I don't mind even if they come to whine. It's still a preferred response to complete indifference. The level of camaraderie amongst us and the fact that we are making a difference encourages us to do more. We are all learning. I used to be a very impatient person, but this experience has taught me endurance!"

• Make sure garbage is segregated, establish a recycling system.

• Involve the children in the neighbourhood - children are often more enthusiastic and less jaded than adults!

• Make cleaning-up fun. Interactive exercises, games, competitions and prizes are great incentives.

• Network among residents. Find people who can wield influence or have connections that can help you get sponsorship for projects or get the attention of the right people in the Municipal Corporation Office.